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Meds Taken Do Not Vary With ADL Impairment in Heart Failure

Adults with heart failure with impairment in activities of daily living take as many meds as those without.

HealthDay News — For individuals with heart failure, those with impairment in activities of daily living (ADL) take as many medications as those without ADL impairment, according to a study published online November 29 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Parag Goyal, MD, from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined ADL impairment and medication count based on self-report among adults aged 50 years and older with self-reported heart failure (947 adults).

The researchers found a mean medication count of 7.2; almost three-quarters (74%) of participants were taking 5 or more medications. There was no independent association for ADL impairment with medication count in a multivariable model. Individuals with three or more hospitalizations in the previous year, declining health status, and cognitive impairment had similar findings.

"After adjusting for confounders including comorbidity, we found that adults with heart failure and ADL impairment take as many medications as those without ADL impairment," the authors write. "This suggests that providers may not sufficiently consider functional impairment when prescribing medications to adults with heart failure and thus may unnecessarily expose individuals to risk of adverse outcomes."